The excitement of the election, the race to the finish has deflated.On to the teams. Poor Obama. He is having to run the marathon at the Olympics before he even has a chance to move his socks into his White House dresser. The foretelling of how bad things are going to get...promises something dire without any fleshing out. I hate the ambiguity of this. Should we be buying flour, rice and oatmeal in 50lb containers and storing canned goods under our beds reminiscent of the provisioning my grandmother (who learned this in the 30s) would do? Should we be plan to lean into it? Should we pay off all of our bills? Should we be stashing cash...which might not be worth anything? There are trickles of how bad its getting. Our school superintendent sent out this note:
Community Forum: School Budgets and the Economic Crisis: What Does it Mean for Tburg?
All members of the Trumansburg community are invited to an open forum on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 7 - 9 PM, in Room 313 of the High School to discuss the impact of the current economic crisis on the Trumansburg Central School budget. The District has begun designing the budget for next year and are seeking advice and creative ideas from the community. With over 50% of Trumansburg's funding coming from the NYS, a freeze or cut, could have a significant impact on the program the District provides to students. The Trumansburg Central School District's Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) is sponsoring and will moderate the forum. Superintendent Paula Hurley will make a brief presentation and other members of the Administration and School Board will be in attendance.
I think I am going to this meeting. At least information is power...versus the scary ambiguity that exists in the ether surrounding the financial doom we are going to live through. We have tightened our belts...but the college money we stashed for K and A has trailed away, our so called retirement the same. Thankfully, we have our morgage and that's it. No other loans. All credit cards up to date. All expenses paid as we go.
So, perhaps the squirreling away of provisions may make me feel better. Or just listen and wait. Be prepared to hear what is put out there...and be prepared to act.
Late nights redoing work I thought was done--but revisiting seems to be important. I am getting some headway, but it seems every step forward has a quarter step back. Will I get through this? Can I keep it going--with haircuts for kids, laundry, something in the fridge, Mandy taken care of, 'walk around' money for when I am not there. And clothes, how to reduce down to just the "vital few" (that's corporate speak for something else)--as you know..love that corporate speak.More left foot, right foot. I need to think positively.
I had some nice chats with K and A individually yesterday. They are my jewels. I love my kids and their good thinking and ideas. A and I went to the store and shopped...his being rational and thinking (versus my opposite behavior) and had nice talks. K came into my room last night (R is gone) and sat on my bed and then crawled in next to me...and talked until late (she stayed up later doing a nice drawing of a mask). Financial change is tough, but I have my jewels...my treasure.
Chad, of the famous Chad Grohman Blog, weighed in with good input on the owl sketch posted yesterday. I am revising the illustration and splicing in an new bottom treatment--for this p.m. I was tweaking the color of the garden sketch(with the monkeys..experimenting with overlap, monkeys etc)--with a different color palette than I normally feel comfortable with. I also tried doing something new with the color of the clouds which I love..seems a bit candy colored...but pretty. Take mental notes...
More later.